Reflections on life: the funny, poignant, serious and quirky

In honour of my son Tyler who is going back to school today after his Reading Week at college (something we more honestly called Slack Week when I was at university), I am going to provide you with a recipe of sorts – one that I am going to make for him this morning for the third time this week.

He loves French toast. Loves it. Can’t get enough of it. And he is always appreciative when I take the little time it takes to make this breakfast of champions (though sometimes we make it for lunch, and on occasion, supper.)

Tyler is my picky eater. Every family has one, but since he has been away at school his taste buds have expanded to include salad, grilled cheese sandwiches (his must have real cheddar cheese, bacon if he has it, and raspberry jam) and stuffed pasta (he used to eat pasta with just butter and salt—now he will eat three cheese ravioli), and sweet potato fries.

He was never a picky eater by choice—some things appealed to him and other things did not. Food had a yuck factor for him, and some of it still does, but I find it interesting that once he has been exposed to a variety of other foods outside our home, he is more likely to try them. He has five roommates in the house he lives in at college (which is only two blocks from Fanshawe in London) and so he is exposed to a lot of different tastes. They all have one thing in common though: Pizza (which I consider a major food group and so do they).

I remember when I was in university (about the time that pizza was brought to the new world), I would eat pizza almost every night in residence—a bunch of us would go together and order one after studying or getting back from the school pub.

I realize I have digressed from today’s recipe—but French toast is not all that complicated.

French Toast à la Tyler

White bread – as many slices as you need to feed the people you are feeding ~ Tyler always has 3

I egg for every three slices of bread

English: Cinnamon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Splash of milk

A little vanilla

Cinnamon sprinkled in

Syrup and butter – enough to drown the toast

Using a whisk, whisk the eggs and milk and vanilla and cinnamon together. Dunk the bread and put it in a hot frying pan. We just got a new big non stick frying pan and can cook three pieces at once. We flip them when one side gets nice and toasty. I eat the burnt ones.

I know this is not an official recipe – it is just a bit of a map that takes us on a journey to syrupdom. It is meant to be more nostalgic than directive—but it is the last day I will see Tyler for several weeks (Easter is coming up)—so it is my goodbye to him today. (Don’t feel too sorry for me, I email him every day and I am one of his ten on his phone plan that he can call without charge—so we talk a lot).

Mmmmm, yummy french toast. May I have some too please?? I laughed when you were talking about pizza because I don’t think Bryan has had anything other than pizza or pizza pockets since he started college. The easier the better!! LOL Hope you had a nice week with your son :).

Mmmm, now you have made me seriously hungry!
I have fun trying different kinds of bread for French Toast, which you can pick up on the day-old rack since slightly stale bread is best to soak up the egg-mixture. One I really liked was Cinnamon-Raisin bread, even though it was pre-sliced thinner than I would have liked.

Looks great! Our family favorite is mac and cheese made with Fontina cheese, white sauce, and penne pasta. Now that my husband has to be gluten-free, I make a gluten-free version and next day it’s just as good as the original. When my kids come home, it’s what they want.

The picture of that French Toast is just enough to trigger my syrup loving sweet tooth for the next week!! Oh my goodness, does that look delicious!? Of course I’d need a glass of ice cold milk to accompany it and a 1/2 pound of butter… just sayin’… :)

Yum, the French toast looks so good. I remember when we weren’t all so concerned with every morsel of food we put in our mouths. Remember? Anyhoo, we always had fried chicken or roast beef — every Sunday afternoon. This may really gross you out but when I was little, Mom used to make brains and eggs — yep. I guess it was pig brains in a can mixed in with scrambled eggs. Sounds gross to me now but I do remember as a child getting up and saying, “Mommy I want some brains and eggs.” Oh and chocolate biscuits — that’s another yummy breakfast thing when I was a child.

Tyler is one lucky kid to have a mom like you. Makes me want to have some french toast tomorrow morning for breakfast. Our daughter was the picky eater and our son would eat anything. Go figure. Now they’re both pretty good eaters. A few years out in the world changed the picky eater into a food explorer.

Tyler is getting over being a picky eater slowly but surely, but he is not totally over it yet–but he has come a long way–we just finished up the french toast and are waiting for his ride to take him back to school–this is not my favourite part

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